


Love Tried To Welcome Me

by Utena



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Manga)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-22
Updated: 2013-09-22
Packaged: 2017-12-27 07:30:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/976116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Utena/pseuds/Utena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haunted by a curse, Venus believes that love will never be a part of her life again--until Selenity gives her promising news.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Tried To Welcome Me

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written a long, long time ago. I am hoping, by posting this, I will re-awaken my writing muse and try to get her interested in re-writing "The Claiming of Venus". So we shall see if this works long enough. :D

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**  
Love Tried To Welcome Me**

**by Utena**

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**  
**  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_These are my lips  
But they whisper sorrow  
This is my voice  
But it's telling lies  
I know how to laugh  
But I don't know happiness  
And I must confess  
Instead of spring--it's always  
winter  
And my heart has always been   
a lonely hunter  
  
Love tried to welcome me  
But my soul drew back  
Covered with dust and sin  
Love tried to take me in  
Love tried to break me...._  
\-- _"Love Tried To Welcome Me"_  by Madonna  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 _"Your love will be hopeless for all eternity..."_  
  
Was that really to be her fate? Was she destined, unlike the others, to be lonely for her entire life? She was, after all, Aphrodite reborn and the embodiment of all that was love. So why was she destined to a fate void of all love? It was a question that had plagued her mind for years now and there was no answer anywhere in sight. She had tried to understand it all her life but now it was getting to her...eating at the very core of her soul.   
  
Those very words were still ringing in her ears even now half a century past and she could nothing to rid herself of them. Every word he had spoken had been nothing but truth. She had chosen duty so many times over in the past. It was not a crime but a decision upon her part. She was the Leader of the Senshi but duty to them extended far more to the princess's safety as well. The life of her princess and future queen had always been meant to put before her own.   
  
Long ago she would have done anything... _anything_  in existence to hold onto that one special part of her soul but he was gone, taken from her before even they had the chance to explore their relationship further. Life had not been fair and neither had her death at his hands.   
  
Ironic at it was now that she had to face him once more in this new life. She had long thought it impossible but there he had been. He had been beautiful above them floating. He would always be beautiful to her in either life or death.   
  
Minako sighed softly as she moved to stand before the closed crystal window. Below her, life continued with or without her there. People moved about their business with not a single care in their world. Their futures were safe and well in the hands in the senshi.  
  
Hers was just another story and probably intended to be lost on the winds of time. Even now as she dwelled upon it, love had once welcomed her in the form of Kou Yaten. She had, of course, been infatuated with him. Perhaps even loved him. It wasn't until sometime later when her soul drew back upon the memories of the past that she understood it all herself. He had been another form of the one she had loved and lost.   
  
Lemon-yellow brows knitted together in thought. Staying in this place any longer was going to drive her even further insane. She had to get away. She had to find some time to herself...to think...to decide...to move on with her life.   
  
 _Its never that simple_ , that voice in her mind whispered softly.  _The Past will always be there to haunt you even if you think yourself long over it._  
  
All of it was true, she had to admit even if it was to herself. The past would always be there to haunt her. It didn't matter what form it manifeasted itself into. Always, always would it be there.  
  
Crystalline tears swelled up in her eyes causing her vision to blur for the moment. This pain she had been carrying was becoming far too much for her. Her heart was aching and her soul felt as if half of it had been ripped and shredded from her chest. No relief. There would never be any.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Neo Queen Selenity had never felt such sadness in her entire life and she followed it as it were some beacon of light. Her long silvery tresses flowed from two separate buns on each side of her head down her small shoulders to the floor. The white and gold gown (a replica of her princess gown minus the two off sleeves) swirled around her with each movement she made.   
  
After centuries of hardships and awakenings, she was  _still_  Usagi. It had not mattered in the least that she had gone off to marry the man of her dreams but now she ruled Crystal Tokyo beside him. Everything had gone off without a hitch. Even her senshi had taken up residence here with them except Pluto. Her place remained where she was meant to remain: The Gates of Time and Space.   
  
Selenity's steps halted before the large oak doors closed before her. This place was Minako's residence, she realized now. That deep heart wrenching sadness had come from her Senshi of Love. Whatever had caused it was hurting her friend and she was going to help Minako no matter what the cost was to be.  
  
A small fisted hand rose and fell upon the wood in three movements. Selenity waited but nothing came and this alarmed her more than anything. Something was indeed wrong with Minako. She tried again and softly from the other side a voice did ring. Beneath its layers, Selenity could hear the dispair that rang in those small words and it made her clutch her heart in pain.  
  
Her hand moved to the brass knob and twisted it to push open the door. The sight she found was not exactly the sight Selenity had expected. There at the window Minako stood with her back turned to her but her body wracked helplessly with the tears she was shedding.   
  
Selenity moved across the room to close the gap that held them apart for the moment. Wrapping her arms around her friend, she allowed the girl the chance to cry her heart out. Whatever had made Minako this way, she was sure she would find out sooner or later.   
  
"I'm sorry," Minako whispered after a few moments of tears and sorrow. She had not meant for her friend and queen to see her in such a state of disarray. "I don't mean to make your shoulder wet with my tears."  
  
Selenity smiled sadly shaking her head. "Minako-chan, its fine. You needed a good cry but my question is: why? You are usually strong; what made your heart ache so much?"  
  
"The past," she admitted with a soft sigh, wiping away the streams of tears that were still left upon her face. She was a mess, she was sure of it but she didn't care. She really didn't care how anyone saw her at the moment. "The past came back, Usa-chan. Its so hard now to explain but all my life I based my world on a curse. I know its pathetic of me to do so but my duty to finding you made it that way. Please understand that I am not accusing you of any of this. In fact, I am lucky to have you and the others in my life but I wonder often what my life would be like had everything been played out so differently."  
  
Selenity allowed Minako's words to sink in and she understood why the sorrow she had felt had been so great. Minako's heart was lost in the shadows of a life long lost but then so would she if in the same shoes. She could intervine and grant Minako that one thing in her life but she knew that Minako would never appreciate it. The Senshi of Love was not one to allow it. Whatever the curse had been had been too great for Minako.  
  
"Forgive me," Minako replied kneeling down to sit at her friend's side, "I just cannot bear this pain any longer. Its been locked inside too long and I am glad now I can tell someone about it."  
  
"Do you think he has been reborn?" Selenity asked.   
  
It had been a question that she had never really considered. She knew that stones the king had were gone. She couldn't remember what he had done with them nor had it been her place to ask. She had assumed that Mamoru had simply set them free from their duties.   
  
"I--I don't know," she answered. Her head lowered allowing strands of blond hair to fall forward around her face. Her mind was racing...racing with the need to comprehend such words from her queen and friend. Could it be true...? There was really no answer. She would have to seek out Endymion for that but he wasn't here and he wouldn't be for a few more weeks. "I never really thought of that. I had always considered that Mamoru-sama still held onto those stones."   
  
Selenity shook her regal head again. "No," she answered softly, "Using the Golden Crystal, he released the shitennou from their duties and allowed them to be given new lives. He wanted them to be happy."  
  
Minako lifted her head to look up at Selenity. Was he really out there looking for her? She wanted so much to believe it to be true but how could she after so much heartache? The only way was to find out for herself.  
  
"Usa-chan, do you mind if I take a few days off?" She asked.  
  
"I see no reason why not," Selenity answered smiling at her friend. "When you find him, search for the others. I am quite sure that there are three more who would be happy to see them."  
  
"I will," she promised hugging her friend tightly around the waist.  
  
  
  
Without hesitation, she had taken leave from her duties and made the trip clear across the world. She didn't know what had driven her this far away from Crystal Tokyo but only that she was here now and this was the only place she could think to start from. Finding him, she knew, was not going to be an easy task nor did she even think it would. He would be the hardest one to come across or even find. He was, after all, once a leader himself of the shitennou. It was his duty to conceal himself and the others from the radar of the enemy. A tactic, she herself, had long since learned from.  
  
Aino Minako brushed away the strands of loose lemon-yellow hair from her face. She should have brought a disguise but it had been the least of her worries and furthest from her thoughts. Truth be told, she felt she didn't need to diguise herself from others. There were no real threats upon the face of the earth and there would be none for sometime. Yet, she remained alert, ready and willing to change into Sailorvenus without hesitation.  
  
Focusing her thoughts upon her task, she allowed her cornflower blue eyes to lift heavenward and sweep across the skylines of the tall structures around her. Each building seemed to have a life and purpose of their own. Some even seemed to touch the sky. There were some made of glass and crystal while others were built from layers of brick and blood from centuries long gone.   
  
For the first time in her life, she wanted to get lost in the excitement of the city around her. By no means was Crystal Tokyo boring. It was far from that but she had never been out of the city in so long. This was her first vacation away without Artemis and the others. She was feeling guilty about that. She should have allowed her guardian to follow her or had taken one of the others with her but she wanted to do this  _alone_.   
  
 _Kunzite_ , his name was but a soft whisper in her mind causing her heart to clench in pain,  _why do you still haunt me?_  
  
Her eyes dropped away from the skyline. She didn't want to think of him right now. She wanted peace for the moment...just once. However, that was not to be. Off in the distance, she heard it. Cries for help had halted all movement around sending waves of bodies to turn towards the direction from which it came. Faces etched with unsureness within their expression.   
  
Minako, on the other hand, reached for the henshin stick securely in her pocket and quietly withdrew. She had a job to do. It was an never-ending cycle in her life.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
As the sun slowly dipped itself down into the horizon, he watched as the brightest planet made its appearance, taunting...teasing him with images of a life he knew had once been his own. Among them a beautiful young woman with flowing golden blond hair always reaching out a hand for him to grab but each time he did, she faded before his very eyes. Never had he the chance to ask his dreamgirl her name. Yet, down inside he knew her name already--Venus.  
  
He didn't know how he knew it. He just  _did_. He knew everything about her and yet nothing at all of her life. She had been his salvation in this world, that bright light in his darkest hour. Out there among the vast sea of human life, she waited for him. This time--this very lifetime--he would never let her go again. To hell with the fates and what they had in store for them!  
  
He pushed himself away from the railings of the balcony and stepped back inside his apartment. There was no point staying locked in this place any longer. She was out there and he would be damn if she would get away this time.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"  
  
The golden kiss sped towards the youma in front of her. It was nearly over and she was nearly out of energy. This thing, wherever it came from, had nearly killed several of its victims and now its attention had been drawn to her. It had fought hard and vigorously with every attack she could toss in it's direction. Not even her attacks could stop it and this was causing her to worry greatly. If she didn't find something--anything really--than this world was lost and perhaps so would be she.  
  
Just as the golden kiss was inches away, the youma had managed to shake itself from its reverie and jump safely out of the way. This very thing only angered Venus more. She didn't know what else to do. Her body was tired...demanding a rest but she had to press forward. It was her duty like the others to protect this world.  
  
"Rolling Heart Vibration!"  
  
A golden heart produced itself between her hands, vibrating to life as it headed once more to the youma.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
He couldn't remember how he had gotten here but he was here right in the middle of a battle. The scene played out before his very eyes and he knew he had seen all this before. These attacks belonged only to one person and she was there off to the side. Her orange fuku torn in various places revealing to him unmarred flesh.   
  
"Venus."  
  
Despite the dirt and blood matting her long golden hair, she was beautiful just as her namesake had meant her to be but she was in trouble. If he didn't do something to help her, there was no telling what would happen to her and he wouldn't allow it. He couldn't allow it.  
  
Within himself, he concentrated upon the power he had. It burned like a raging fire through his soul and sang as it raced through every single vein in his body. Engulfed in a pale golden light, his street clothes melted into a uniform of gray with a long white cape attached at the shoulders. Gloved hands reached out to summon the power once more into boomrangs.  
  
"Boomrang Annihilation."  
  
She heard them before she even saw them, drawing her attention away from the youma to the figure just standing confind within the shadows. Though she couldn't make out a wisp of an image, she knew who it was. Her breath hitched itself in her throat as her heart pounded wildly against her chest. She tried desperately to cut through the darkness that held him jealously in their embrace.   
  
"Kunzite."  
  
His name was but a mere whisper from her lips but pressed behind that single name were centuries of emotions locked away by one single young woman. Emotions that had held her prisoner nearly her entire life that they refused to let her go.   
  
The scream from the youma snapped her from the shadowy figure back towards the creature whom she had been fighting previously. She watched as the glowing boomerangs tore it apart until there was nothing left but dust.   
  
The boomrangs whizzed past her head returning to the figure. His out stretched hands held them there for a moment allowing silvery-white hair and steel grey eyes to luminate against the glow before fading. Stepping forward, Kunzite eyed the young woman crumbled upon the floor. It had been her that had pulled him in this direction and her that haunted his thoughts.  
  
"Venus."  
  
He spoke her name again softly but to Minako it sounded like a scream against the silence of the night. He was so close to her that she could smell the faint fragance of cologne upon his body, teasing and taunting her senses til it drove her nearly insane.  
  
She opened her mouth to say his name but the words were lost in her throat. She knew even a single word from her would crack with emotional turmoil. All this time when she had thought him lost, he had been here in this place all along. Had he never been the General they had fought against with Beryl?, she wondered. Certainly he seemed far different than the one she had met in battle. His hair was silver with a faint traces of a light lime tainting each strand. The other, however, had lime-colored hair. There was definitely a huge difference here.  
  
The touch of his hand to her face drew her from her reverie, snapping her back into the reality she lived. His touch was warm and inviting making her long to stay within a breath's reach of it. Something inside of her spoke of times long past when there had been such scenes of tenderness as this. However, no matter how great of an impact they had been, they were gone and those memories were nothing more than that.  
  
"Are you hurt?" He asked, concern lacing his words.  
  
"I am fine," came her breathless reply. "I am nothing more than exhausted. Using so much energy causes me to tire quickly. Its been awhile since I have done anything like this."  
  
Before she even had a chance to protest, he was scooping her up into his arms and gliding away from the tree. Scenes past before her in a blur and for a moment, Minako had long lost her sense of direction. The place in which she was being carried to she had not yet been through. Yet, it was beautiful with its large trees on each side of the street. Buildings loomed on each side promising breath-taking views of the city all around her.   
  
"Where are we going?" She pressed for answers. Some part of her didn't want to be alone with him but the other half of her sang at being held so close as she was against him. More than anything, it wanted more...so much more.  
  
"My apartment," he answered. "There you can rest and tomorrow we can talk."  
  
Minako wanted to protest that she had a hotel room waiting for her but she didn't say anything. She was tired far more than she realized and the offer of a comfortable bed right now seemed something worth being alone for. She still couldn't believe it that he was here  _alive_. She would have never in a million years think she would find him again. She had thought that this trip would have been fruitless and her return to Crystal Tokyo would have been for naught. Yet, he was here with her and Minako was willing to throw caution to the wind to be with him.   
  
Kunzite floated down to the balcony of his apartment and glanced down to the girl in his arms. How odd for him to find her now. He had not even expected to but he had and she was safe in his arms where she belonged for so long. He didn't even want to let her go to open the sliding door. No, he wanted to stay like this even if it was forever. She belonged there in his arms.  
  
"Venus," he whispered softly allowing his gaze to sweep across every inch of her face.  _Beautiful...still beautiful_ , he thought.  
  
"Kunzite," she returned lifting a gloved hand to touch his face. "I never thought...." Her words trailed off as her eyes teared up. She was so happy that words failed her.   
  
"Shh," he spoke keeping her body close as he slid opent he door, "rest now and we will talk."  
  
Minako could only nod but she still didn't want to be left alone without him close by. She wanted to make sure that when she did awake that none of this had been a dream, but she said nothing upon this. She didn't dare frighten him off. She couldn't afford any of that. She would wait til the morning's first light to see how Fate herself would be kind.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
She awoke as the sun was half over the horizon feeling rather refreshed and revitalized even after last night's youma attack. Somehow, he had done it...replenishing her body with the energy that had been lost. She could still feel it coursing within her veins...singing to her as it did so and she closed her eyes to listen. The melody was haunting with its sadness causing her to want to reach out to that simple melody and embrace it fully in her arms.   
  
 _The song of the soul_ , she realized silently. A song once sung when reunited with their other halves. Had he been just  _that_ to her? Oh there was more indeed between them. She had been plagued with dreams for over the century with them. Always they had seemed so real and so filled with the emotions in which she now bore heavily.  
  
Even after Ace had laid his curse upon her, those dreams never went away. They remained there to give her comfort and help her continue further with her search for her princess. She had already awakened and knew her place even before she and Artemis came to Tokyo. Though she had never told her guardian, she knew more than he realized. It had been that reason why she masqueraded as the princess. It had been her duty to do so as it had been before. Always her job to play doppleganger to her princess.   
  
Sighing softly, Minako stretched herself across the bed before finally rising to her feet. She was still dressed in her senshi uniform and there was no way she could continue to do so. Touching the center of her bow, she detransformed back into the clothes in which she had arrived in.  
  
"I need a shower but all my things are in some alleyway," she groaned. She had dropped her bag in a dark alley where she had transformed there. Now, she doubted any of her things would be there anymore. She was sure someone had conme across them and took off with them. Thankfully, they had not gotten her passport nor her money. She had kept all that vital information in a subspace pocket.  
  
A knock on her door drew her attentions away from the problem she faced and called out for him to enter. The brass knob rattled as the white painted door swung open allowing Kunzite full access to his room. His steel grey eyes swept across the bedroom to the young woman whom stood at the closed curtains. Even in the darkness of the room, she still shined like a beacon of light. Everything about her radiated pure unadultered light and it was this light that guided him in her direction.  
  
He moved to sit down on the bed behind her allowing the silence to engulf them completely in its embrace. He wasn't sure what to say to her nor even how to begin answering the silent questions that lingered there between them. Words couldn't speak what he had been through or the emotions he was feeling now with her here with him. Last night, he had paced the living room trying to find the right words and phrases to say but all were lost now.   
  
"Here in this life I am the son of a Sheikh," he began unsure if this was what she wanted to hear. "My father and mother past away some few years ago and the title went to myself. It has been six months since I have been in my homeland. The very same homeland from which I came from during the rule of the Silver Millennium."  
  
Minako stiffened her spine at the mention of the Silver Millennium but she said nothing, waiting for him to carry on with what he had to say.  
  
"I know you want to know I did it but allow me to say this: it wasn't my choice," he continued. "I didn't want to be apart of Beryl's army nor to be part of your death. She captured us during a battle near what will be known as Kyoto. The four of us fought against her, refusing to listen to anything she had to say but the darkness whom she worked for would not allow us to leave alive. Our souls were taken from our bodies and replaced in the stones which bore our names. Our bodies were then taken over by her dark magic. Then you know the rest."  
  
Yes, she knew the rest. She knew that shortly after Beryl's destruction, Endymion had been returned the stones of his Shitennou. She had never really forgotten his face nor the forlorn look that he would never see his comrade-in-arms again. However, she didn't know anything after that. Her King never spoke of them after the birth of Crystal Tokyo but Selenity had known exactly what had happened to them. It had been this reason why she had sought him out...to find him...to be given a chance once lost in the edges of time's memory.  
  
"Endymion-sama set you free," she said finally. Her words spoken were but a soft whisper like that of a gentle feather floating upon a soft breeze. "He wanted the four of you to be free to live a life denied to you. He gave you something you never had."  
  
Silence once more sprung up between them as both processed the information the other gave. Though he wanted to be happy by the generous gift Endymion bestowed upon them, Kunzite couldn't help but feel denied his place as chief protector of his prince--no, his king now. This simple life he led had never been for him. Try as he might, he had never truly found his place here.   
  
"I want to go back with you," he said. "I want to see Endymion and live my life with you."  
  
Those words meant so much to her to hear that she turned around to face him. Her cornflower blue eyes were sparkling with unshed tears. She wanted to go back to Crystal Tokyo with  _him_. It was nothing she wanted more to do and she lunged for him, hugging him tightly as she buried her head in the crook of his neck.   
  
Kunzite had been taken slightly by this but nevertheless he welcomed it wholeheartedly, wrapping his arms around her and held her close to him. Nothing more was needed to be said. Already she had forgiven him and she had been his redemption.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


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**Crystal Tokyo, Japan  
Two Years Later**  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Minako leaned against the doorframe of the nursery and watched as her husband cradled their newborn daughter, Harmony, close against his chest. It was odd seeing him here but he seemed to fit in so well as if he had been here with her all this time. Never had she imagined a life lived such as this. The curse had been nothing more than a simple imprint into her life and broken when she had pledged herself for all time to the one she loved.  
  
Of course, their marriage could not have taken place quickly unless she found the others but even they had not been so hard to find. Rather fairly easy as each man remained in close contact with each other. It was almost like they knew they belonged together. They shared a bond deep within just as she shared with the other senshi.   
  
When she had brought them back, Endymion was happy to see them...nearly in tears as he embraced his comrades. He had been greatful to both herself and Selenity for returning them and he bestowed them with their duties once more. Now they would be together.  
  
Well, all except the others at the moment whom had yet to truly embrace their return. Mars was still desperate to fry poor Jadeite and Mercury along with Jupiter remained wary of both Zoicite and Nephrite's ever crusade to win their hearts. None of the Inner Senshi had yet to accept the fact that their leader had married one of them. Minako supposed that with time they would and eventually open their own hearts to the love waiting for them.  
  
Pushing herself away from the doorframe, Minako stepped forward to Kunzite's side and placed a gentle hand upon his arm. She watched his head turn in her direction and smile tug on the corners of his mouth.   
  
"Aishiteru, my Mina," he whispered.  
  
"Aishiteru, my love," she returned.

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**The End**


End file.
